Pages

Monday, July 3, 2017

Independence Day Edition

Our dear Canadian Pixies, how did you celebrate Canada Day?

American Pixies, what's on the agenda for tomorrow? We have a wonderful local festival with food, music, booths, games, arts and crafts, etc. Then we will probably BBQ some stuff in the evening, go up the hill behind our house to see the big displays around the nearby bay (assuming the fog holds off).

Next week, daughter and I will be going to the town where she's moving to hunt apartments.

AW: aforementioned produce...our church gardener has been sending me home with way more produce than we can eat. This time it was a dozen tomatoes, a dozen yellow squash, a cantaloupe, a huge watermelon, and two Israeli melons (which we've not had before and, it turns out, are not big fans of).

In further acts of mom-ness, I have located in daughter's new town: all the discount stores, thrift stores, craft stores [X-ing h0bby l0bby off that list], plus the buy-everything including grocery store [not w@lm@rt), and a TJ's. Also the shelters where one can visit animals, and/or volunteer. Plus, ordered a paper map of the town, which I understand is so last-century, so sue me.

Daughter has a list of potential apartment places, has contacted property managers to schedule visits, and has a clear favorite or 2. So yay!

We successfully got ourselves to camp, with one of our smoothest car trips yet. And E went to sleep easily in the camp. I didn't. I was awake until after 2am. And then E woke up at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep. Mr. Q and E went to breakfast, to give me time to catch up on some sleep, but now the hallway outside my room is full children.

W: Mini dropped a watermelon on the tile floor, after being told, multiple times, to stop playing with the watermelon. It was just as messy as you think.

W: In the cleanup, I saw a puddle of liquid and thought, "Is that watermelon juice? So, without thinking, I got some on my finger and licked it." Yep, watermelon juice.

W: Yep, I'm still allergic to watermelons. My tongue is still itchy after 5 hours.

AW: but not swollen or needing Benadryl, don't worry. It's only the tip of my tongue.

W/AW? I have chosen to *really* clean one room and get it finished, rather than half *ss cleaning more rooms. Living room is done: ceiling fan, blinds, dusting, moved furniture, baseboards, swept and mopped. It feels good. The rest of the house is a disaster, but baby steps.

Eeks about the watermelon disaster! And also the cleaning, ugh -- but one room at a time sounds reasonable.

Daughter and I went to the local fair. Sadly, we arrived at rush hour, and the lines were too long for most food options, so we got hot dogs at a booth run by local HS students, raising money for scholarships. Not bad hot dogs, either. We visited a billion booths, picked up lots of literature, said hi to some neighbors. She scored a free old map (probably Shanghai?) and made a button using old music. I got a free paperback from the friends of the library. She also got a necklace; I also got two hand-made greeting cards. We also have maps of local trails, a schedule of events celebrating the 100 year anniversary of our town, etc. We met the enthusiastic young dentist who took over the practice of daughter's pediatric dentist -- he was also a patient there in his youth! Found water for a dog somebody had left tied to a stake, then someone helped find the owner. All in all, a good fair, but not as good as when the kids were bitty.

Glad you had fun at the fair, kathy a. Mr E took the baboos to the movies, and I stayed home. The baboos and I are going on an adventure tomorrow (we have a list of adventures for the summer). It's a glass bottom boat ride on a spring fed lake nearby. Hopefully they will also agree to some hiking.

Still no progress on parenting plan or financial agreements. Toddler had a huge poop, which was a 2-hour ordeal today . . . but she did poop. We're trying to get her off the Miral@x, since she's been on it for the better part of a year now. Hopefully her system will adjust and/or we can find something else that works.

AW: Our family doctor (a PA) is amazing. I can't begin to describe how much I appreciate her. She's both my doctor and the kids' doctor, and it's so amazing to have a long-term great relationship with our doctor, trust her, and feel like she takes the time to really listen and understand, and really knows and cares about us.

AW: Did I tell you folks that not only are my pain levels almost non-existent and my energy levels much higher, and not only are my strength and range of motion measurably significantly better since the separation, but I've also literally grown an inch in the past year or so, at age 40?! I've had a number of people tell me that in both appearance and demeanor, as well as just the way I carry myself, I don't even look like the same person any more. Getting out of a toxic relationship has been truly one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

It's not full dark yet. None of the official firework shows have started yet, so far as I can tell from the schedules, although it sure sounds like they have. (Other fireworks are illegal) The cats are already freaking the fireplace out.

Re: Mir@1@x, MM has been on it (half a cap dose daily) since he was about Toddler's age. He's now 15. We try periodically to wean him off, but his doctor isn't concerned about long term use and without it, he gets horribly constipated (like, he goes a week. It's terrible). So....

Speaking of MM, he's been reading about PTSD and how this time of year really freaks out veterans. Most are okay on the 4th itself, because they're braced for it, but around our area people set off fireworks from July 1st all the way to the end of August without any warning at all.

PK, I'm so glad that your figurative burdens are no longer weighing you down in a physical way. It is amazing how our bodies can carry the stress in our lives, and I'm glad you are free (relatively speaking--I know there are still ties and worries).

We watched fireworks from our upstairs window, which is a pretty sweet deal.

Glass bottom boat adventure was a success. No hiking, but it was awfully hot, so I'm not all that sorry about that.

Junior cat has dealt with the national celebration by more peeing outside the box than usual, managing to miss the precautionary puppy pads on a few occasions by accident on purpose. My beloved seems to think this is somehow my fault, even though he's the one who brought this cat home. It seems best not to enter in to that kind of discussion, so we don't.

Liz, good to hear that about the Mir@1@x. The recent articles about people thinking it's causing psychological symptoms in their kids are a tad worrisome, especially considering the types of issues toddler is having. The hard part is, she doesn't need it when she has long stretches of time here. It seems pretty clearly stress induced, and that the current schedule/situation is a pretty significant stressor.

Found out that the root canal I had dinner back in February failed, and the endodontist is recommending pulling the tooth. :( :(

I think it's much more likely that the psychological problems cause the poop problems, than that Mir@1@x causes the psych problems.

MM has always always always had poop issues, from way back when starting solid food. Got worse when potty training and during the inevitable toddler food strikes. We found daily Mir@1@x to be less traumatic than periodic suppositories. YMMV, of course.

W: I forgot to take out the recyclables (THREE WEEKS WORTH!) this morning.AW: I ran and checked and they hadn't come yet! Brought them out to the curb, and they are just now coming around to collect. YAY

I made the mistake of trying to get a cost range for my daughter's furniture to move to her new town. Have already gotten several calls and emails from movers, and they all want details right now! We don't know where it's going yet, so that's not quite ready to arrange, but the cost should be factored in. (I sincerely don't want my husband renting a truck to drive several hundred miles and through some mountains.)

Apparently my momness has now moved along to "what daughter needs on her own." (Liz posted something about a first aid kit for dorms, which is nudging me along!) I know daughter has kind of a tool kit (hammer, screwdriver, picture hangers, etc.), but dog alone knows where that is now -- she has not unearthed things in her room yet.

She has mentioned taking some things from the kitchen, but has no idea what she wants to take (aside from some special dishes she bought for herself, thermal capped cups, etc.). I think she'll want a few Japanese bowls, which we can easily replace here but they won't be easy to find there. I don't want her to take our flatware, or the cooking / baking items we use -- but maybe I should clean the cookware cabinet, because I'm pretty sure some excess items ended up in there over time (like, from SIL). For regular dishes and other stuff she will need, makes sense to buy that there, I think.

It's funny, but two student apartments where she lived before came with cookware and dishes; and in Japan, things kind of got passed around from outgoing to incoming international students. So, she never had all the basics. She does at least have furniture, except a table and chairs; so that should be easy enough to find.

Liz, I have chased the recycling truck down the street. Ours only gets picked up every two weeks, and we usually fill it up in that amount of time. So missing one pickup is dreadful, even at the cost of my dignity.

AW: Baboos and I went swimming at a friend's house in little town, with some other friends from our previous town. Each family has one "typical" kid and one kid with some sort of struggle (autism, ADHD, delays) It was kind of nice not being the weirdest family in the gathering, for once. And so nice to catch up and be with people I've known for a while.

Glad I could be helpful, Kathy! My suggestion is to let her take items from your kitchen that she is comfortable with, but photograph each one so you can replace it for yourself. I know I felt like my mom was with me cooking when I used her saucepan.

I will try to make headway on the cookware cabinet tomorrow. And other sectors of the kitchen. I think she might need some of the mini-muffin pans, since that was something we did together.

Now I'm overthinking the "what she will need" thing, and ended up finding a dinnerware set that I really want for myself. True story: I never got around to picking a pattern, we made do for years with a set I got on sale 35 years ago, and then my beloved thought that I'd just love this pattern with fruit on it (seriously? Me and fruit??), and then people kept giving me this stuff in that pattern. Thankfully, most of that eventually broke or otherwise drifted off, and my current set of 8 matching dinner plates was bought at tar-jay during a holiday company-for-dinner emergency some time back. Sigh.

In other adult kid news, my new daughter in law has a birthday next week, and the artsy-crafty daughter of my friend from college just made some etched stemless wineglasses for me to give! One with an owl, one with an angelfish. It feels serendipitous, or something. :)

One more time, offering a thought for a topic in which I am in no way qualified to comment. A sermon is not a Ph.D. thesis. One might offer good thoughts, examples, possibly an idea to chew on. I believe the reference materials offer lots of examples where the way is not totally clear; so there are struggles to find the guiding principles. A pastor's job (as I understand it) is not to be smarter than everybody in the room, but to touch hearts and minds in some way. xoxo

What are the topics? Can you sermonize on your journey of discovery into the topic since it wasn't previously in your wheelhouse? Can you do a portion of the service as a polylog, inviting parishioners to share their thoughts?

About Wednesday Whining

Wednesday Whining is a weekly blog with rotating hosts. Whines and Anti-Whines, both big and small, are welcome! Our purposes are mutual support and sharing a few laughs along the way.

The Wednesday Whining Community is diverse, and strives to be safe, welcoming, and supportive. To this end, comments that are personally abusive or otherwise disparaging [regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation] will be deleted by moderators, along with spam and self-promotion.

Wednesday Whine Hosts

March 21, 2018 - kathy a.

March 28, 2018

April 4, 2018

FAQ

Q: When does Wednesday Whining appear?A: The Whiner's Ball commences no later than Tuesday, and ends when Awards are given (usually Thursday in theory, but definitely before Monday).

Q: Awards? Really?A: Yes, really. Traditional awards include Style [music, poetry, etc.], Old Skool [piddly little whines], and Elevated Risk of Mullet [funniest line in a whine], but other hand-crafted awards may be granted at the host's discretion, and nominations from commenters are encouraged.

Q: Can I whine about someone who just does not "get it"?A: The Cluestick Posse is on hand for persons in need.

Q: Is there a mascot?A: Ralph is the mascot.

Q: Are there other traditions I should know about?A: The passing of virtual refreshments is appreciated.

Q: How did this all get started anyhow?A: Phantom Scribbler was our muse and host for two years.